Monday, July 15, 2013

Greetings from the Philippines!

Hello everyone! Greetings from the Philippines! I made it here safe and sound. The first flight wasn't all that great. but the second flight was really sweet! We met up with Elder Averett in Kuala Lumpur (he was my favorite person in my MTC batch) and that was super fun! I stole another Elder's seat just so I could sit next to him! After a 3 hour flight, we arrived in the Philippines. It is a cool place... It's a lot like America, but there is a lot of stuff that I'm not used to anymore... Like short shorts and skirts, American music, and the like. I never realized how sheltered (and blessed) I am in India. I don't like any of that stuff :) It feels wrong.... Haha! My companion is pretty cool. I'm serving in the Philippines Quezon City Mission, which unfortunately is not the same as Ed's mission, but they are super close! That was a bummer but I can't have everything that I want in the mission! My companion's name is Elder Panopio. He is from the Philippines and he is a pretty cool guy. My district leader is Elder Scanlan from Alaska! He is originally from Samoa but his family moved to Alaska when he was young. The problem with him as that he has been speaking Tagalog for so long that he doesn't like speaking English very much.. My companion does speak English, but it isn't his native language and so he doesn't like it that much. The other Elder is weird and speaks no English so... I don't care about him very much :)My experience here hasn't been what I expected. Most of the Elder's aren't totally obedient and the work here sucks. I don't speak their language and not many here speak English so I am kind of stuck. My companion has 5 weeks left on his mission and so he is doing all he can to get some baptisms at the end of his mission so I am kind of stuck doing nothing. I miss India a lot. I know how everything works there and it is really awesome. Elder Alosias baptized the investigators that we were teaching and I am so happy for him! I can't wait to get back to India! I know that it is totally revelation that that is where I am supposed to be and that is where I WANT to be. Pray that I get my visa soon! Love you!Elder Head